Types of Gold Alloys

Types of Gold Alloys

9K, 10K, 12K, 14K, 18K, 22K, 24K Gold: You might have heard gold being described by a certain number followed by the letter ‘K’. This simply tells you how much actual gold is in the ‘gold’ jewelry or object in question. Something that is 24K gold is technically pure gold (although depending on the country, pureness of 99% is usually enough to qualify it as 24K). The K refers to the term ‘karat‘ or ‘carat‘ which is an ancient form of weight but now is used to determine the pureness of the gold in question. For example 12K (which is half of 24K), would tell you that your ‘gold’ item has 50% actual gold inside it, with the rest being other types of metal such as copper and silver. So whatever the karat value of your gold, divide it by 24 and multiply by 100 to reach the % purity that your gold holds.